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Just devastating.
Some observations:
With the canopy gone, and with it, the shading, the forest floor can only heat up. Vicious cycle. Heat..fire...hotter. This is a river valley, and I can't imagine the trauma to the river, losing it's shading. The river turns brown and thick with every storm due to runoff - soil no longer held in place with plant roots.
Mother Nature will not be stopped! In only 4 years, nature is returning. The undergrowth has burgeoned native plants - shrubs, wildflowers, insects, birds. Baby trees.
This fire could have been stopped, but resources were elsewhere (protecting private property). I don't know, and not meant as a criticism, but I can't help but wonder if the USFS policy to "let it burn" (some of this forest is in wilderness), is more broadly applied? There is so much overgrowth and mis- or lack of management. It's a situation truly out of hand.
I walked the forest immediately after the fire. It was traumatized. In 4 years much has returned. Not in my lifetime, but hopefully in some future one, it will return to health, with appropriate management.
Going to try to figure out how to post pics here.
Entiat River Valley and Myrtle Lake, Washington state.
